


Hell in a Fool's Paradise

by Tyke (TwiceAsFrustrating)



Series: Vitae That Binds [4]
Category: Demon: The Fallen, Mage: The Ascension, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: Based on a WoD session, Blood, Demons, Gen, Mages, Magic, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Old World of Darkness - Freeform, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Swearing, werewolfs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2019-10-30 16:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17831996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwiceAsFrustrating/pseuds/Tyke
Summary: There has been a murder. And another. And another. Normal humans have no place in this business. They couldn't solve it if they wanted to. It's up to this small rag-tag group of supernaturals to solve the mystery and stop the string of deaths affecting the people they have spoken to. Is this string of murders coincidence or is there a pattern they cannot yet see? There is only one way to find out, and that is to work together to stop whatever force is at work.





	1. The Players

**Author's Note:**

> We just started a new game session! This is a cross-over hell game, which means it's going to get crazy and weird. It's supposed to be a mystery game, at least more so than any other we've had. There are four players (well, five, but the other has a special role) and the GM. It takes place in New Orleans in 2001 and none of us know what we are doing.

**New Orleans**

**January, 2001**

 

**Pace Detective Agency**

**11:45am**

 

“...you distracted?” No reply, “Hellooooo? Do you want lunch or not?” The nearly 40-year-old man called out to his intern, who seemed to be completely absorbed in her computer screen, "So you don't mind if I put olives on your sub?"

Amy finally snapped back to reality, "Huh? Oh, right, sorry. Lettuce and tomatoes on one side, no condiments."

He chuckled slightly, "For all the work I give you you sure find time to stare at that computer. Wanna take my job?"

"No thanks." Se went back to her computer, "I've been trying out a new sorting program. It reads through the data I input and analyzes it for any deviations from the norm. Once it's done, it outputs the results on what it guessed are the most likely outliers." She was prone to technobabble, which really didn’t help her boss understand how helpful her program would prove to be.

"Yeah yeah whatever the heck that means. I'll be back in an hour." He checked to make sure he still had his car keys and headed out.

"Alrighty, see you later then." She continued to work at her computer, paying little attention to his exit.

 

**20 Minutes Later**

 

The phone in the office rang, pulling the lone employee still there to answer it, "Pace Detective Agency, what can I help you with?" Amy answered.

A female voice came over the phone, "Hello, is Mr. Pace available?"

"I'm afraid he's out, ma'am, would you like to leave a message?" She grabbed a piece of paper and pen to take any potential message.

"Yes that will be fine. Tell him the meeting is still on for tonight and that it's my treat." She was quick and to the point.

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Nope, that will be everything. Have a good day."

"Likewise." She said, and the woman hung up. Amy hung up the phone after her.

 

**37 Minutes Later**

 

Heath Pace walked back into the office with two subs in hand.

Without looking up, Amy called out to him, "You got a call."

"First call in two days." He grumbled, "What went on?

"A lady said a meeting was still on. Bring your own money too. It's not gentlemanly to make the girl pay for you."

The silence that filled the room was so thick that she glanced up to see his reaction. There was a deep frown across his face and sweat was coming down his brow.

"Is anything wrong?" She asked him.

"Oh not much. Just business stuff that I have to take care of." He walked over to her and handed her the sub.

"Alrighty then." She left it at that.

 

**Several Hours Later**

 

There were no more phone calls that day.

"Alrighty.” Heath Pace clicked his tongue and stretched his legs as he got ready to grab his stuff and head out for the day, “Oh hey, isn't your birthday coming up?" He chimed in, as if he just remembered.

Amy had to do a double-take. It was January. She was born in October. It wasn’t unusual that a new boss wouldn’t be aware of his interns birthday, but it was strange that he would try to recall it and get it so very wrong.

She decided to play along, "...yeah, next week."

"Oh good. Well here. I managed to win this in a lottery but you can have it. Probably would feed you better than this place can." He handed her a gift card, marked for a small sit down restaurant called Brennan's for twenty dollars.

She took the card, "Hey, thanks! Never been there before, though. I wonder what it's like."

"It's got a lot of local food, but banana fosters are why I go there."

"Alrighty. You can lock up if you want. See you tomorrow."

"Sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow!"

He nodded, threw on his coat, grabbed his stuff, and walked out.

 

**Just Another Fortune Shop**

**4:42pm**

 

Jean Alladin Gagneaux sat in his little fortune shop, surrounded by all his mystic paraphernalia. His day was unusually slow for being so close to the new year. Typically, there would be more customers coming in to see what their fortune for the year was. At the very least, he expected a few of his regulars that still hadn’t managed to find their way in yet. Instead, he’d only had one client today. He didn’t even get to read their fortune. They decided to leave before anything could happen.

He was debating closing up for the day and cutting his loss when he heard the bell that hung over his front door ring. He looked up to see a man with black shaggy hair, and pretty business casual clothing.

The man was looking left and right, breathing heavy and scratching the back of his neck. He was examining the shop in the same way Jean Alladin Gagneaux was examining him. He was new. Jean never forgot a face in his life, and he was sure he’d never seen the man before in his life.

He let the man look around a little more before calling out to him, "Hello, wanderer. May I ask what brings you here on your journey?"

The man jumped slightly when he was spoken to, "O-Oh. I was u-uh, looking for a reading. Are you still o-open?"

"Of course. After all, fate can approach us at any time. Please, take a seat." He motioned to the chair across from him as he stood up to get his things for the reading.

The man sat down, concern obvious on his face.

"You appear to be very nervous. Please take a deep breath and calm yourself. The cards can tell when you are anxious and it upsets them as much as it does you." Jean said as he grabbed his tarot cards for the reading.

"S-Sorry. I'm just stressed right now." The man took a deep breath anyway and seemed to relax just a little, "Okay, okay I'm calm. Is there something I need to do?"

"I need to know what question you want the answer to. That will help guide the cards." He sat across from the man.

"Okay, I have a story then..." The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "I lost my job, I'm worried my girlfriend will leave me, and I think someone is following me. I just want to know if someone is trying to sabotage me, or maybe there's some kind of hope. Anything?"

Man, this guy seemed to be paranoid. Or, even worse, he wasn’t. It wasn’t up to him to decide, "I see. One moment."

Jean began to shuffle the deck. He wasn’t planning to actually use it though. It was almost the end of the day (only another hour or so of business hours left) and he had yet to use his powers. He liked to do so at least once a day to keep himself from getting rusty.

He focused on the man and reached out his mind to examine the threads of fate surrounding him. Jean saw an image of the man riding on a motorcycle. It crashed and set the man aflame. He appeared to be uninjured though. He got up and removed his burning clothing as he walked into a series of tombstones.

This vision was…. Strange. Unlike human mystics, who claimed to see vague images to hide the fact that they were all charlatans with no real power, everything Jean saw was literal. He saw the most possible future exactly as it would play out.

Jean began to flip the cards so he could carry on with his fortune teller act, "I see something for you. Though, it confounds me some.” Hopefully this guy didn’t know that what he was about to say was not conducive to how tarot cards actually worked. He should have used a crystal ball instead.

"What?" The man asked, obviously anxious about his fate.

"You should avoid vehicles for a while. You will crash if you ride a motorbike. I see you on fire, but the flames do not harm you. Strange to say the least, but I am not one to judge. Though... the cards say such an event will end with you walking into a graveyard. So... Avoid vehicles and graves for a while." He hated when the future made him sound like a crazy person. He would never fake his fortunes, but this sounded made-up, even to him.

The man just nodded firmly, "Okay. Thank you.”

"Of course. I hope fate finds it within herself to allow you back on your journey without my aid again." He wished that he could give the mystic talk a rest for once, but Jean was a special kind of eccentric. The kind that bought into his own horse apples.

The man got up and left with a smile, leaving the money for the reading on the table. Jean grabbed the money and put it into the box where he kept the rest.

 

**Outside A Bar**

**7:32pm**

 

Anthony Wood leaned against his bike with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He looked up when he felt a couple of raindrops fall onto his face. With a small curse under his breath, he went to look for shelter out of the rain.

Instead, he heard a whisper on the wind, “Xaphan.” Hearing his celestial name caught his attention quickly and he concentrated on the person who called out to him.

He didn’t know the man, or the people he was with, but they looked like a bunch of punks. Not dissimilar to him, but not all that alike either.

"When this guy comes, do we just jump him?" One podd-looking punk asked.

"No idiot." Another answered, "Just find your first target, and if he shows up, you ask him where the tome is."

"What if he doesn't say anything?" The odd one asked again.

The other snapped back at him, "Nigga if you fight him you'll fucking die. Just run.” A small ‘tsk’ escaped him, "Fine whatever. Get outta here then. I got this."

The vision faded before Xaphan could get anything else out of it. He didn’t get a good look at the surrounding area, but it looked like the French Quarter.

He hopped onto his bike and made his way toward the French Quarter to find the spot he saw in his vision. With the rain just starting, it wasn’t an easy task. It took him over an hour to find anything.

 

**French Quarter**

**8:00pm**

 

Chione was new to New Orleans. She wasn’t from the area and knew almost nothing about it. A normal person would think it was madness to just pack up your life and move with no prior warning or planning. But she was a Silent Strider, and that was sort of their thing. At least she had the foresight to set up a meeting with a local Fostern Bone Gnawer to take stock of everything going on.

She walked into an alleyway. Of course, the meeting was in an alley. She would expect nothing else from a Bone Gnawer. A tall red-head was standing in the alley, taking a puff on a cigarette.

"Greetings. I hope I'm not late." Chione said as she approached.

"You're on time, which means you're late." The red-head, Sandra "Stick-Biter" Foster, turned her head to look at Chione, "You wanted the general idea of it around here?"

"Oh dear, I'll just have to try harder next time, won't I? Yes, that IS what I wanted." She was unsurprisingly hostile toward someone that was doing her a favor. Garou were like that. It didn’t help that the area was mostly Glass Walkers, Bone Gnawers, and the occasional Uktena. All tribes that were sketchy at best.

Sandra ignored her hostility, "There's mostly Leeches running around, and we have kind of a truce, but what that really means is we both are looking for excuses to fight again." She took another drag of her cigarette and slowly blew out the smoke, "They've been known to follow some humans around sometimes. We got someone who we think is being tailed tonight."

Chione crossed her arms, "I see. So, since you're telling me, I take it you want me to keep an eye on them? Or am I off the mark?"

"Yeah if you can. Just make sure he doesn't get into trouble. He's heading to a restaurant to talk to a Glass Walker." She wrote down two addresses and handed it to the Silent Strider, "Dunno where they'll be coming out of, so make sure you figure it out."

She nodded and took the paper, "Very well. I'll monitor the situation, and stop anything happening to him." She opened the paper. The first address was a house. The second was for a place called the Pace Detective Agency.

There wasn’t enough time to check both, so she decided on the house. The agency would probably be closed this late at night.

 

**The Guy’s House**

**9:24pm**

 

Chione had been watching the house for an hour or so before a man walked out. She began to tail him as quietly as she could, letting him lead her around. It didn’t take long for him to speed up though, causing her to give chase.

He wandered back into the French Quarter, which was filled with locals and tourists alike. She was keeping up with him pretty easily though. It was so easy for her, that she was just barely keeping her distance as he turned into an alleyway not far from the restaurant where he was supposed to meet the Glass Walker.

She decided to watch him a bit longer to make sure everything was okay. At some point, his eyes turned and looked directly at her. He was finally aware of her presence, which was her cue to leave.


	2. Aligning Fates

**The Streets of New Orleans**

**9:25pm**

 

Amy had stayed at the office much later than she should have. It was a weekday, which meant she had to get to bed. As she walked down the street, a motorcycle passed her. She got a strange sensation as it drove pass, causing her to pay attention to it. The only thing she caught were the plates reading D3-NOM.

_ That almost looks like it says demon. Neat.  _ She thought to herself and carried on.

 

**Just Another Fortune Shop**

**9:25pm**

 

Jean Alladin Gagneaux should have left the shop hours ago, but something about it felt very… off. He kept cleaning and purifying the place since the mysterious man left, but nothing made it feel right.

He was going over everything with burnt sage for the third time when he heard a small ring in his ears, "Or'alaan.”

He paused. There were not many people in this world that knew that name. He tried to reach out and get a feel for who called out to him, but got nothing back. He sighed at his lack of skill and went back to purifying his shop of the bad omens the man brought in. It was probably just his thrall saying her nightly prayer, after all.

 

**French Quarter**

**9:30pm**

 

Anthony Wood finally reached the place where he thought he saw the punks earlier. He got off his bike and began to look for the punks. He did not find them, but he did find something else; a body, lying on the ground and dead.

He approached cautiously, making sure no one else was around. He didn’t know how long it had been there, but it was unlikely anyone else had discovered it yet. It looked fresh. With his leather driving gloves still on, he reached out to the body and searched the pockets. There was a PDA, an empty wallet, and an ID.

He double-checked to make sure the guy really wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t. Upon further inspection, he also didn’t have any external injuries.

"Hmpf..." He stood up and started looking around for any trails left behind by a potential attacker. Though, at the moment, it looked like the guy just keeled over.

 

**Amy’s House**

**9:35pm**

 

Amy shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth, her excuse for dinner. She was planning to work on some gadgets after this and didn’t have time to cook a full meal.

As she was putting her spoon down to get the next bite, she heard a dial tone coming from her computer. She had a bad feeling about this, but she got up to check it out anyway.

She looked at the screen only to see green text and a depressingly familiar avatar.

 

**Satanael:** hahahahahahahahaa i knew you'd get it wrong.

**Amy** : dammit you n00b stop sending me viruses you know my programs catch that shit super easy

**Satanael:** it's fiiiiiine, but i sent you something better. i know where the plot is!

**Amy:** w0t

 

Her reply was sarcastic, as usual. This guy (girl?) had been bothering her for a while and he always said something nonsensical. She was done with him, but she couldn’t block him, no matter how hard she tried.

 

**Satanael:** did you know that your boss is on his death rows soon?

**Amy:** what did he eat a bad sandwich again

**Satanael:** your boss has a meeting. it's "my treat".

 

She knew that line. How did he?

 

**Amy:** wait you're a girl?

**Satanael:** i wish i was that hot.

**Amy:** jesus christ dude just get to the point

**Satanael:** okokokokokokokokokokokokokokokokok

**Satanael:** i just learned that your boss was on his way to a meeting tonight. did he make it safely?

**Amy:** i dunno. how do you know about that anyway?

**Satanael:** cause i was the one who killed him.

**Amy:** "dude

**Amy:** if you put a tap on his phone i get it but that aint funny

**Satanael:** ur right. here, he's over at Uptown street in the French Quarter if you want to say hi.

 

He was a lunatic, but she didn’t like that he knew about the phone call from earlier. Something about this seemed wrong. She couldn’t help but be worried. She grabbed her laptop and portable router and make her way out.

 

**French Quarter - Alleyway**

**9:35pm**

 

Anthony found nothing. There was no trail, no marks, no sign of an attacker. The guy probably just fell over dead, or it was washed away in the rain. Still, his instincts were telling him there was something more to this than he could see. The punks had been here earlier. Maybe it was them. Whatever it was, he couldn’t find any answers.

Maybe he just couldn’t see the answers because they weren’t in this time. Maybe everything he needed to know was in the past, just like the event itself. He looked at the body again. He needed someone who could read the threads of fate in a way that was beyond even his House’s grandeur. 

_ I'm gonna have to call him. _ He needed a Neberu, and he only knew of one in the nearby area.

He took a deep breath to brace himself for his conversation with the Fiend, who was a loon at the best of times due to his host. Thankfully, the guy was willing to help him when he needed it. It was just… difficult to deal with him when the human crazy took over.

“Or'alaan.” It was a little bit before he could feel the other demon pick up the the connection, "Jag, I need your help."

"Jag?" The other asked back.

The host must have been an asshole, given that he used his first, middle, and last name at all moments. He hated to be called anything else, so of course Anthony shortened it to Jag. He didn't have time to play this game though, so he switched gears.

"Or'alaan, I need your help. I just found a dead body with no wounds, your mastery of the Lore of Patterns is gonna be needed again."

"Give me the location. I was just getting ready to head out anyway." He complied, "Be there in a bit. Just don't get arrested."

"No promises."

They ended the connection and Xaphan waited.

 

**Elsewhere in the French Quarter**

**9:35pm**

 

"He made it alright?" Sandra asked as Chione approached the meeting spot.

"I'm certain he did, yes. I followed him, and he went into an alley to wait for someone, who I assume was the Glass Walker. I couldn't confirm anything though. He managed to see me. I had to move on." She had left before the guy met anyone though.

"Wait he went into an alleyway?" The red-head blurted out.

"Yes. I thought it was suspicious, so I watched him a while. He just...waited."

"Did he catch you?" Her words were curt and stressed.

"He saw me, so I had to walk away. The alternative was looking him dead in the eyes and offering a $50 Blowjob."

Sandra paused, "...Shit." She walked away to a payphone and dialed a number.

Chione didn’t catch the conversation before Sandra hung up and came back to her, "Go back there now. Don't ask why, make it fast."

"Understood" Chione replied and made her way back to the alley where she had left the man earlier. This time, she walked a little more quickly,

 

**French Quarter - Alleyway**

**9:42pm**

 

When Chione got back to the alleyway, there was a man examining a body that looked a lot like the man from earlier. She focused her sight to make sure she wasn’t misseeing things. She wasn’t. The man she was following not half an hour ago was dead where she had left him.

_ Shit. _

She stared at the man, her rage just barely contained beneath the surface, "You. Did you do this, or did you see who did?"

Anthony looked at the woman through his goggles, "...No."

She gripped the handle of her umbrella tightly.

"I just got here and found his body." The man continued.

"You're dressed an awful lot like a murderer for an innocent bystander. If you don't mind the observation." It was just an observation on the black getup that covered him from head to toe. No inch of flesh was visible.

He shrugged, "Are you gonna call the cops on me?"

"No. Probably not. I couldn't even if I cared enough to."

"Have you figured out how he died, then?" She inquired. After all, he was staring at the body very intently.

"...No wounds on his body.” That was all he had gathered so far, “Do you know this guy?"

"Somewhat. I know someone who'll likely be...annoyed...he's dead." She was partially to blame, since she left him unattended, "Perhaps he had a heart attack. He's rather...plump."

Anthony didn’t reply to her. Instead his attentioned turned to the new set of approaching footsteps. A new man had joined them in the alleyway. He had dyed his hair purple and his arms were covered in constellation tattoos. He was easily recognizable.

He stood up, still over the body but refusing to lower his head, "Jean. Finally. Can you do your thing here?"

The man looked down at the body on the ground,  "....sure. Cause of death, I assume?" He didn’t wait for the answer before leaning over the body and beginning to trace the pattern that lead to his death.

About 15 minutes ago, he was waiting in an alleyway, and he turned his head towards the edge of the alley, before pulling out what appeared to be a gun. But before he could leave, he was jumped on by some mound of gross scales and flesh that proceeded to bite his neck.

While Jean was looking into the man’s past, Chione stood to the side. She was morbidly curious what he was doing that involved looking at but not touching the body.

In the meantime, Amy finally found her way to the alleyway. She saw the three of them huddled around something, but she couldn't make out what it was.

Jean snapped out of his dive into the man’s past and looked up at Anthony, "Before I say anything, who is the girl?"

"...Ah shit." Anthony muttered, noticing Amy’s arrival.

"...this is what happens when people gather in a suspicious alleyway." Chione added.

"Hey, I was doing this alone. You were the one who stuck around." He snapped at her comment. He was ready to bail at the girl’s slightest movement. He didn’t know her or trust her.

"Because this is my business." She replied, also snow staring at Amy.

"So... Not a friend of yours?" Jean finally asked.

"Not at all."


	3. The Beginning of Everything

**French Quarter - Alleyway**

**9:45pm**

 

Amy stood in silence for the moment, letting the three stare at her. She finally spoke up to ask a question, "Are any of you Satanael?"

"..........What?" Jean.

"Who?" Anthony.

"Why?" Chione.

"Oh. So. You're just gangbangers, right?" Amy.

"Don't associate me with them." Chione said so loudly and suddenly one would think she had just yelled.

"What is a gangbanger?" Jean asked. That word was not in his host’s vocabulary.

Everyone ignored his question.

Amy turned to Chione, who was the only other woman here, "Are you the one who asked my boss out here?"

"No, I'm not." Was her answer.

Jean muttered to Anthony, "This... seems more complicated than what you actually called me out here for..."

"I didn't expect these two to show up." He muttered back.

"Well, I can't exactly tell you what I saw with them just hanging around."

"Um.. okay…”  _ guess I was just trolled again... _ “Did any of you see Heath Pace here then?" Amy was still looking for her boss.

Anthony pointed to the body.

“......Right.”

"I take you know him." Anthony questioned.

"He's... He's my boss. Was.” She corrected herself and seemed to stare nowhere in particular.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"...How did you know to come here looking for him?" Chione cut in again.

"Satanael." Amy got straight to the point, "He's this... random dude on a site I'm on. Said he was the one who killed him and told me to come here."

"I've never heard of any Satanael, sorry to say." The wolf told the girl. Internally she had decided that the unknown person was the most likely culprit.

Jean sat there awkwardly, keeping silent while he debated what to tell Anthony without confusing the two random people.

Anthony finally decided to save Jean from his own confusion, "Jean, what did you see?"

The Fiend looked up at him, "You sure these two can take hearing it?"

"Don't underestimate me." Chione interjected.

"Um. How, how did he die?" Amy followed up.

"Look, I don't got all night. If I'm gonna wait for your social anxiety to leave I'm gonna stay here forever." Anthony, and it was definitely a remnant of the host, said shortly.

"Hey, I just want them to live in peace. No need to upset that if I don't have to, but whatever." That was more of Or’alaan talking than Jean, "About 15 minutes ago, maybe 20 by now, given how long we've been talking, something was at the edge of the alley. He pulled out a gun, but he was jumped before he could do anything. Scales and flesh that bite into his neck."

Chione realized she had left not ten seconds before the event occured. She didn’t really care, but it was kind of her fault for not sticking around. Then again, the guy was taking out a gun and looking in her apparent direction, so she likely would have gotten shot if she hung around.

"Scales and..." Amy trailed off, going silent for a while before pulling out her laptop, "If it wasn't that long ago, then maybe I can still..." She began typing, trying to sense any magick in the nearby area.

She only sensed one nearby source; the umbrella held by Chione. She was going to try making a map out of it. As she went to work, she could feel her laptop and her magick begin to crash. It didn’t backlash on her too badly, but she could feel her laptop begin to heat up very quickly and watched as it crashed. Likely a busted cooling fan.

"Dammit, stupid...!" She shouted at her laptop before turning to Chione, "You, lady, what's with your umbrella?"

"Well, typically, you open it, and it stops you getting wet." Chione feigned ignorance.

"No, the other thing." Amy made a weird gesture that was supposed to convey it was not a normal umbrella.

Now, Chione was not a very good liar, so she decided to just admit it, "Well, it's interesting you were able to tell, at least. Fine, it does something interesting when I want it to."

"Something interesting?"

Jean was confused by their conversation, so he cut in, "What are we talking about now? Are we finished with the dead guy?"

That question made Amy switch gears, "Let me take a look at him." She dropped next to Jean and started to examine the body. She also found the PDA, which Anthony had left on him, in addition to yellow flowers so thoroughly stomped into the ground that anyone would miss them. She grabbed the PDA and started going through it, "He did come here on a date... was he lured in? Dammit, boss..."

The PDA had three notes on a to-do list:

 

* Get Amy a present

* Go to dinner with Sylvia

* Get fortune told

 

"Boss..." Amy mumbled under her breath, drawing a pagn of sympathy from Anthony who heard her. She turned to the others, "Sylvia. Do any of you know anyone with that name?"

Chione assumed that must have been the Glass Walker the guy was supposed to be meeting. She wouldn’t mention that though, since Garou were more secretive about their status to the general public. Anthony knew of a woman named Sylvia Diamond who was a business woman. Jean didn’t bother to think of who the woman was. Even if he knew of  _ a  _ Sylvia, there was no guarantee she would be the  _ right  _ Sylvia.

No, Jean had a different concern, "So... May I ask why no one's first instinct was to call the police when they found a dead body? Is there some big secret we are keeping?" He was called out her to find the cause of death, even though he had no stake in this.

"Yeah, I'm gonna call the police when there's three strangers right there who have already noticed me." Amy said, rather sarcastically, "I'm not suicidal."

"I don't even have money for a pay phone, and I have no interest in calling the police myself.” Chione sighed.

Anthony looked at him like he was an idiot, "You know what I do at night, Jean."

"You, I know." He was a bounty hunter, a shady one at that. He came to Jean every now and again to try and find his more tricky marks. That was how they knew one another, despite not being familiar during the war. It probably also helped that they were two of the only, if not  _ the  _ only, demons in New Orleans. Though, Or’alaan was surprised the guy didn’t take off for LA after Lucifer showed himself. Unlike Or’alaan, Xaphan was a Luciferan. He couldn’t understand that faction or their obsession with picking up the war again. Or’alaan just wanted answers to put his mind at ease.

Amy was still investigating the body while the two demon had their short conversation. It took longer for her to notice, but there were glasses underneath him.

She didn’t move her attention, but spoke to the others, "Anyone have a clean bag?"

Jean was the first to answer, "Nope."

Anthony decided he had other priorities, "Anyone know where to find a Sylvia Diamond?"

Amy was annoyed that no one had a bag, but she answered him anyway, "I can find out, but I need to fix my laptop."

"No clue." Was Chione’s answer. 

Anthony clicked his tongue before deciding he was done with this entire thing, "Hmm... Thanks, Jean. I'm gonna get rolling now. Gotta talk to some people." He made his way to his motorcycle. Amy looked at him as he walked away. Her gaze drifted to his bike, where the plate read D3-NOM. She squinted.

Anthony noticed her gaze, “What?

"Deja vu, I guess."

In the meantime, Chione had somehow slipped away without anyone noticing. Unbeknownst to them, she decided to go back to Sandra to report in.

"So. This night sucked, huh." Amy said to no one in particular.

"It’s gonna get worse for whoever did this." Anthony said while sitting on his bike.

Jean shrugged, "Nah. Just a normal night."

"Really?" Amy asked, pretty surprised.

"Well, normal in a sense."

"For us at least." Anthony commented.

"...weird." Was all Amy could say.

Anthony was getting tired of the mundane conversation, "You should go back home, it’s late for a teen to be out."

"Right. I think I'll. Head home then." She pointed awkwardly to the mouth of the alleyway.

Jean smiled slightly at her, "Do be safe."

"...yeah."

"Stay in school and eat your vegetables." Anthony mocked.

Amy took off without another word.

"Jean, do you need a ride?" The biker asked.

"Do I get to ride your bike?"

"You are not driving."

"I don't know how to drive it anyway."

"Get on the bike."

Jean did as told, "Thank you, Anthony."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Session 1


	4. Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy and Anthony have the same idea: investigate the dead man's workplace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a session between two of the players to move the plot along while the others were busy before the next official session.

**New Orleans**

**January, 2001 (Day 1)**

**Amy’s Residence**

**10:00am**

Amy’s mind was still reeling from last night. Heath Pace, her boss, was dead and in an alleyway. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. The whole thing felt unreal.

She wanted answers though.

She packed her bag and made her way out.

 

**Pace Detective Agency**

**10:30am**

Amy arrived at the Agency and unlocked the front door. She locked it again once she was inside; she didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. It was strange to think that he would give her the key the day before he ended up passing. It was like fate planned it this way.

She didn't have time for that now. She was on a mission to find any information she could about this Sylvia woman. She rifled through file cabinets and shelves but found nothing. Whatever his relationship to this woman was, he didn't leave much evidence of it. She also managed to find a locked safe and that the desk drawer was the same.

Before Amy could think of how she was going to open it oh, she heard a knock at the front door.

She didn't know if there was supposed to be a client today especially this early in the morning or if it was a walk in. Thankfully her boss was smart enough to put a peephole on the front door. Unusual for a business of their nature but not the dumbest idea in the world.

Outside she saw some blonde, short-haired punk looking up as if he was trying to see her through the door.

“Someone in there? I got a couple questions.” The man called through the wood.

“Oh, it’s you.” She vaguely recognized the voice. She slipped the chain onto the door but unlocked it opening it's just enough to get a look at the man's face.

"Huh? Oh you are the kid from yesterday." Anthony said as the Amy opened the door ajar and peeked her face through.

"...you're a lot less leathery than before." She said, seeing his face for the first time, "I liked that style more."

"You sayin' I'm ugly?"

She paused for a moment, thinking better than to insult the man who looks like he could kick her face in even with the door in the way, "No comment. What do you want?"

"I wanted to investigate further into what happened to your boss. Thought his office would be a good start."

"...guess we had the same idea, then." A normal person wouldn’t trust a stranger they met just last night, but there was something about him. He made her let her guard down and she couldn’t explain quite why, "Alright, fine. Come in but, don't make a mess. I'm already working on sorting through everything."

"Sure, sure." Anthony said as Amy closed the door to remove the chain lock. As she opened the door again, he stepped inside.

"Also there's hidden cameras so don't go thinking of doing anything weird." She warned. As trusting as she was, she was not a complete idiot.

"Weird?" He asked, semi-suspicious and a bit insulted, "Kid, I'm just out to get whoever murdered your boss."

"A girl's still gotta defend her bases."

"Right. World ain't a safe place." Hadn’t been in some kind of eternity. He should know. He was one of the things that tried to defend paradise, but ended up ruining it.

"Alright here's what I found so far: nothing except a couple locked things that I can't get into. Amazing, I know." She gave a mock cheer and sighed.

"Hmm..." He pondered, "Do you know where your boss kept the keys?"

She shook her head, “Checked already. Not there. Probably took them with him.”

"Damn." He folded his arms in thought, "The fortune teller is not available right now. I could call Adam but i'm not sure its a good idea to have him around a teenager. I can try to force it open."

"So... are, like, is that your friend from the other day? That lady?" She asked while examining the lock on the safe. It was a beautifully ornate combination lock.

Anthony thought on how to answer her, "No idea who the lady is. The fortune teller is an old war friend."

"Right... so you... don't have, like, 'unnatural' stuff on you?"

"Unnatural?" He couldn’t help but smirk, "...Well, I am the Devil."

She paused, unable to sense a double-meaning or joke in his words, "Riiiight... alrighty then." She took her laptop out of her backpack and began to work.

"Ain't lying girl."

"Sure, sure, if you say so..." she muttered offhandedly while continuing to examine the safe. She managed to determine it was like thick iron by using her magic to analyze the object.

Amy used a little more magic on herself and pressed her hand against the safe. She began to phase through, finding it to be thicker than she thought, "Ugh, too thick... this is gonna take a little while."

"What the..." Anthony gawked, seeing her hand pass through the metal door, "...You are no ordinary kid. Can you do that on the drawer?"

"Seems like a weird limitation."

She modified her magic using her laptop and pushed her hand a little further into the safe and started to feel around when she felt empty space around her finger tips. She could feel a sheet of paper and something metallic, "Wood and metal are fundamentally made out of different things, I think the process I developed to create a hole through metallic elements doesn't really work so well when they're arranged into biological structures."

“Uhu… How are you doing that though, Kitty Pride?"

"Self-designed Operating System, I run an algorithm to analyze the space I'm trying to get through. It then reorganizes their properties so they're temporarily massless and unable to react with other atoms, so my hand just sort of... slips through while they're like that." She yanked the contents of the safe out, revealing a gun and malilla folder.

"I didn't get a word of what you said."

"Hand go through door." She broke it down into simple language for him.

"That I saw. How is what I don't understand."

"Cuz it do."

"Now you are just being a smart ass."

"Correct."

He groaned and rolled his eyes, “By the way, do you particularly care for this desk?”

“If you really wanna break it go ahead, just don't make too much noise, it might wake up the neighbors." She sat down with the folder, "I'll be going through this file now..." When she opened the file, she found it contained a printed out text log of dates ranging from a week ago to the day before his death.

 

1/4/01

_After talking with Sylvia Diamond face to face for the first time (cute lady), group of sometimes two or more I have caught watching me. Is it a coincidence?_

 

1/6/01

_They are definitely watching me, I wonder if it was Sylvia's doing that they were sent to watch me to make sure I wouldn't run. Very cautious._

 

1/7/01

_I managed to get a picture of both of those who chose to follow me, is one of them sick? He seemed so frail._

 

Anthony looked over her shoulder at the file, recognizing a picture she had just flipped to, "...I know one of these guys."

"You do?"

"Well, kinda." The guy was sickly pale with black hair, "He spoke my name once, i think he wanted to jump me or somebody else. So i went looking for him, it's how i found your boss."

"Uh, spoke your name?" She still hadn’t quite processed that he was serious when he called himself a Devil. Even if she did, she couldn’t have known how calling out a celestial name worked, "You some kinda drug lord? Gotta be pretty powerful to have ears all over like that..."

"Nah. I worked for one once, but nah. I can just feel when people speak my name."

"...weird, but alright. Actually sounds pretty useful now that I think about it..."

"Can I keep this picture?" He asked while pointing to the image.

"I'll make you a copy of the picture, we have a printer here.” She got on it.

"Thanks. We should probably seek this Sylvia too, she sounds important."

"Ooooon it." She started looking for information on Sylvia while the pictures started printing.

"Make two copies by the way." Anthony chimed in.

"Hm?"

"Gonna need two copies of the picture."

Amy heard him, but didn’t answer him immediately. She was too frustrated by her search for Sylvia turning up almost nothing, "Agh, stupid, dial-up modem, argh..." She was not having any luck with her search tonight, "...why do you need two copies?"

"Gotta hand it to two different people."

"Then shouldn't you need three? One for yourself and all?"

"Nah, i'm good. Kinda hard to forget someone once they invoke my name." He continued to stare at the desk, "I think your boss ended up finding something that upset someone big. Also, do you care for the desk?"

"I already told you no, just don't make a lot of noise." She snapped, prodding him to get on with it.

Amy cursed under her breath, annoyed by the noise made by the printer. It was too loud. She needed it to be a little more quiet. She turned her full attention to trying to manipulate the air around the printer in an attempt to make it more quiet.

"Phew, thank God. Hey check it out I made the printer quie--- oh." She trailed off as she looked back up at where Anthony should have been. The man was no longer there though; only the flaming ebony skull of Xaphan. He was taller, more muscular, and not to mention on fire.

Amy squinted at him, "Ghost Rider. Definitely Ghost Rider."

"...Really, kid?" His voice was somehow both loud and booming, and deathly hollow. It was like the deep echo in a cave, "Well, whatever."

"Well, like, I mean. You're. A biker. And you have a flaming skull. Come on!"

Xaphan placed his hand on the desk drawer and ripped it off its hinges. Inside was a file and a slip of paper than read 31231453.

"...the Devil is a biker. That's actually kinda cool..." Amy continued on her strange rant, "...no, what am I saying, that's freaky as hell, what gives?!"

"I didn't exactly get to pick to be a biker. But yeah, I'm pretty awesome." Xaphan groaned, pulling the files from the drawer, “I should have tried this sooner.”

"...I've seen awesomer." She spoke as Xaphan continued to look, "Like, have you watched the trailer for that new movie coming out later in the year? That CGI looks _way_ cooler."

He rifled through the papers, finding some information of Sylvia Diamond, "You are standing right next to a flaming skull and you are saying some fatso throwing some filters in a green screen is cooler?"

"I'm messing you, nitwit."

"Hmpf..." 28 years old, worked for some no-name company, lots of money and influence. There was a suggestion that she involved in extortion. There was even contact info, "Found stuff on Sylvia Diamond anyways."

"Oh. Right. The thing we came here for. _That_ is not fixating on the _literal demon_ in front of me." Despite her sarcasm, she was curious, "So what's up with her?"

Flesh started to grow over Xaphan’s skull, the flames extinguishing as his size decreased.

A look of disgust crossed her face, "...I am _glad_ I didn't see that in reverse."

Anthony ignored the comment, "Rich girl. Nebulous though. Apparently involved with extortion... Also contact info."

"Do you think we should contact her?"

"It is a clue. We gotta approach it casually though."

"By casually you meeeaaaan...." She rolled her hands in a way to imply that he should explain more.

"I mean not talking about your boss right away."

"Oh. Yeah. I can not do that. Uh, like, in the sense that I can, not do that, not that I can't do that."

"Yeah, I get ya." He wondered if this is really what humans were like these days.

"Anyway give it here for a bit?" She reached out for the file, and he handed it over, "Gotta scan everything and keep it on my laptop, don't want people to get rid of the only copy of this thing if someone somehow manages to take it." She cracked her knuckles and started her next steps, "Now then..."

While she started trying to sense magic in the nearby area, Anthony just the code 31-23-14-53 on the safe. The safe remained locked, while Amy found nothing other than her own resonance from earlier.

"Soooo... why aren't you showing up on this map?" Amy asked, confused why the literal demon wasn’t showing up.

"Huh?"

"When I run this program it scans the area for any reality-altering phenomena, like what I did with the safe. You very clearly changed size, appearance and nature as a whole, but none of that's registering on my scanner."

Anthony shrugged, "How am i supposed to know? You made the thing." He gave up on the safe. Not like there would be anything else in there after Amy took it all out. He just wanted to confirm if this combination was correct or not. Obviously, it was not, "By the way kid, what's your name?"

"Amelia, but you can call me Amy."

"I'm Anthony. You can call me Xaphan sometimes." He figured he should share this celestial name for now.

"Not in front of normies, I'm guessing?"

"Norm- I mean, yeah. I can only feel when you use Xaphan by the way." He figured he had already shared enough for her to get the point, even if she didn’t completely understand it.

"Handy. I'll keep that in mind."


	5. Regrouping

**New Orleans**

**January, 2001 (Night of murder)**

**French Quarter**

**10:00pm**

Chione had to report back to the trash princess. When she arrived, Sandra Foster was talking to a young-looking punk.

"Just keep an eye out." She overheard Sandra say before the man left the two of them alone.

"...What sort of creatures do you know that resemble masses of flesh and scales?" Chione said with little introduction or fanfair.

"Cut to the point." Chione wasn’t sure if that was a comment of respect or annoyance, "What happened. I got a call from Sylvia that he didn't show up on time."

"Apparently he was preoccupied pulling a gun on me, he didn't pay any attention to what ELSE was in the alley. He's dead, and there are three people who have gotten involved with this."

Sandra felt white-hot rage burning inside of her. She reached out and tore a payphone from its wire, fighting off an episode of frenzy, "Who's all involved? Did the cops ever get called?"

"I don't have names. One of them was able to see how he died, somehow. Another one, a girl, worked for him. She seemed to be able to sense magic, somehow. And I don't know anything about the third, other than he was wearing an odd outfit that hid his identity. We didn't call the police ourselves, but there's no telling if someone has stumbled across the body."

"Fuck." Her rage was barely contained, "You didn't stay with him did you? Did he die when you left?"

"He died after I left, certainly. All I know is something resembling a 'mass of scales and flesh' killed him.And someone online going by the name 'Satanael' knew he was going to die, and where it was going to happen. If they aren't responsible for it themselves, anyway."

"Hrngh....fuckin Leeches… Sounds like a fucking Nosferatu. So much for the..." She started to mumble to herself.

"Apologies. I should have stayed, unfortunately being seen made things...difficult." She took three steps back.

"Whatever.” She grumbled, “Stay around. I am going to give you Sylvia's number, she told me to make sure you could talk to her. She's busy though so do it tomorrow.” She started to walk away, "We didn't speak."

"Indeed. I have no clue who you are."

 

**Pace Detective Agency**

**11:30am (Day 1)**

Anthony let out a sigh, "I'm gonna make a couple calls. Then we are gonna talk with this Sylvia." He reached out to his contacts and got a hit on a rumor about Sylvia seen with some hoodlums. Maybe she was a gang leader.

He needed more though, so he called up two of his thralls, Frank and Adam, and told them the address to meet up with him. They were there within a few minutes.

Frank was the first to speak, "Hey."

"I'm gonna need that you two find this person." Anthony handed each of them a photo of the pale, black-haired man that had finally finished printing while he was waiting for them to show up.

"Got it. Can do."

"Seh no mor." Adam added, his accent think.

"Do not disappoint me." Failure was a good way to lose the gifts they had been given.

While they handled that, Amy removed the agency computer’s hard drive to use it for later. Once that was done and the mysterious men that Anthony called had left, she spoke up, “Alright, I think I'm done for now. What should we do next?"

He thought about it, "Maybe we could talk to that Sylvia person? We got her contact."

She pondered on that, "Hmm, do you think it's a good idea to go alone? Maybe you could call up that friend of yours to come with us." He seemed equally weird, what with the fortune telling and all, and he had said they were war buddies before.

"Right." It probably wasn't a bad idea, "Or'alaan."

"Oh, is that his name?" She didn't recall him ever being referred to by that last night.

"You can call him Jag." A name he knew Jean hated, but he was an ass.

"Jag it is." And this, his bad influence was spread.

He didn't have to wait before he felt Or’alaan pick up the call, "Or'alaan. I'm gonna do some investigation. Want to tag along?"

It was a good thing Jean wasn’t busy with work right now, "Hello, Xaphan. It's unusual for you to need me two days in a row. May I ask if this is related to the man from last night?"

"Yes, actually."

"I figured as much. I am not sure why you are continuing on with this, but... I do suppose I would like to know what happened. Morbid curiosity and all." He would have to close up early, "Where shall I meet you?"

"I'm currently at his office.” He dropped him the address

"I shall be there as soon as I can." He ended the call.

Anthony turned back to Amy, "Jag is coming.”

"Sweet."

They had to wait a little longer for Jean to show up. When he finally did walk through the door, Amy was the first to speak.

"Hey."

Jean was taken aback, "Hello. You're the girl from last night, no? I was not aware that you knew Anthony."

"I didn't." They were a little closer now, so past tense, "Nice to meetcha anyway."

"It is good to see you again as well." He replied as a formality more than a genuine greeting.

Anthony cut to the chase, "Amy, this Or'alaan. Or'alaan, this is Amy."

Jean gave Anthony a side look that screamed ‘did you just give some random girl my name’ to which Anthony just shrugged, "Amy is not your average girl, Or'alaan."

"So which Marvel character do you turn into? The Silver Surfer?"

Or’alaan ignored that comment, since his host did not have encyclopedic knowledge of marvel comics or their heroes. He chose to focus on the other demon instead, "Are you trying to tell me that you'd like to be called Xaphan more often?"

"Around her is fine."

"Does she know or are you just making an exception?" They had two different philosophies when it came to letting humans in on their little secret.

"I don't know how much she know but... She can phase through metal."

"You two know I can hear everything you're saying, right?" Amy chimed in, noticing how the two seemed to go into their own little world.

Jean continued to ignore her, "Huh... And she's human?"

Amy shrugged, "As far as I know."

Anthony raised an eyebrow,"Well, there we go." It was about time they got back on topic though, "We are gonna contact a woman named Sylvia Diamond, involved with crime. Definitely related to the murder somehow."

"This sounds like it will be enlightening." His Cryptic tendencies were showing, "Any idea where she is?"

"We got her contact."

"You really found something here, didn't you?" Or’alaan and Jean were both impressed, "Why do you care though?"

Anthony shrugged, "Maybe i just wanna kick the teeth in of somebody who deserves it."

"Maybe you're just a big softy." Amy cooed.

"Shut up."

Amy could only laugh in response.

Jean could only answer with silence. He had never seen anyone act so familiar with a Devil, let alone Anthony.

Anthony, or maybe Xaphan, moved past it quickly, "So, one of us should talk to Sylvia."

Amy, using her native human sensibility, replied, "I have a feeling someone like me wouldn't be able to talk to her at all, if she's really that important."

This was Jean’s territory, "As long as I approach amicably, I believe I can do it. Not sure what you would want me to ask though."

Amy stopped to think, "You said before that we shouldn't talk about the boss right away, right?" She was asking Anthony.

"Yeah. It might set her off." Anthony pointed out.

"How about... a pickup line?"

"You want... to flirt with her?" Or’alaan was confused, even though Jean was keeping up.

"If you can woo her, maybe you can get her to tell you about him indirectly, mhm."

"I am unsure how I feel about this." Jean was social, Or’alaan was not.

"Whatever works." Neither Anthony nor Xapan cared how it was done.

"Do either of you wish to do this instead?"

He got an immediate no from both of them, which caused him some anxiety. Jean was a manipulator, yes, but it was all business savvy and mystical bs. He could flirt if needed, but it made Or’alaan uncomfortable.

"C'mon pretty boy, you will be fine.” He really hoped that was Anthony’s wit, “We better use a public phone too."

Amy chuckled, "Yeah, someone like you should have no trouble catching a lady's heart."

"If I could stop time, I would do so right now and walk away..." Unfortunately, Jean was not quite strong enough to allow that aspect of Or’alaan’s power to seep through. 

"Oh, I think I could do that with enough practice actually..."

".....You are human, no?"

"Yeah?"

"Just checking." He sighed, "May we please get this over with?"

"Yeah, sure, sure. Should we go to her address or something, or ask where she hangs out first?"

Anthony finally jumped back into the conversation, "She hangs out at a popular fancy restaurant from what I heard."

"Sounds like a good chance for us."

"I am embarrassing and degrading myself by being the bait. You two can figure out where she is." Though Or’alaan knew he could probably do it more easily.

"My contacts didn't give much." Then he brought up the obvious, "Can't you like, predict where she will be?"

"Of course I could, but I do not have many resources… If you catch my drift." His Faith was limited, especially since he only had one pact.

"No, not really. You want money?"

Yeah, that was definitely Anthony’s logic and not Xaphan’s,

"Nevermind. Maybe I can cheat a little bit." He did have ways to check without spending his limited Faith supply, but they were not as reliable, "You said she likes going out to eat at fancy places?"

"Yeah." Anthony confirmed.

Or’alaan used that limited information and trace the threads of fate around such a vague event. Thankfully, he was able to push past all the other threads of fate and find Sylvia’s. It wasn't much, but he saw a seafood place called Ralph Brennan that she would visit sometime tonight.

While he did that, Amy started taking apart any piece of technology in the office she could for the scrap.

Or’alaan backed up from the threads of fate and told the two what he saw.

"I'll pay for your diner." Anthony said, trying to hurry them all out the door to go wait for when Sylvia stopped by the restaurant tonight. Without a time, they would just have to stalk the place and wait for her to show up.


	6. New Plan

Chione called Sylvia the day after the discovery of the body. She wasn’t sure how to begin addressing the woman, so she decided to just wing it and say whatever seemed best. That was how she lived her life anyway.

"Sylvia speaking." Were the first words from the other side of the line.

"This is Chione. I was told you wanted me to call you." Good start.

"Oh, you got pawned the task by Sandra. I see. How's the day going?"

Fucking Bone Gnawer bitch! This living trash pile was angry at her when it was supposed to be her job in the first place. Fuck her! She couldn’t say that though, so she settled with, "Slow, as of right now. Nothing to note. I take it you've already heard?"

"Yeah, not thrilled about that. But she didn't tell me everything. I'd like to set up a meeting of just us tonight if you can. I can bring help if you're worried about safety. I was told to make sure you felt welcome and safe."

"A meeting tonight would be perfect...and I believe bringing help would be for the best. It isn't safe to be going alone."

"You're right. I will tell the higher ups the news. It'll be at 8 tonight."

"Eight, understood. Do you have a location in mind?"

"Ralph Brennan. It's a seafood place. I'll get a room set up for us."

"Ralph Brennan. I'll be there for eight, then." Chione hung up the phone.

 

**Ralph Brennan**

**8:00pm**

 

Chione arrived at the restaurant at the agreed upon time. Unbeknownst to her, Sylvia had already been there for half an hour before her and the trio had been in the area/watching out for her even longer. They were already seated and had looked over the menu and ordered. Amy ordered something expensive that Anthony was going to kill her over. Jean Aladdin Gagneux stared at the menu trying to find anything that didn’t look like it cost three times the price it should have. Who would pay ten dollars for a bowl of soup!? He eventually settled on a some kind of pasta…

That was a while ago though. Now, Chione was being greeted by the hostess and lead to the back room where Sylvia was waiting. On the way, she noticed the trio sitting at their table. Only Jean noticed Chione walking in, and only because he had a very good memory that wouldn’t allow him to forget her face.

_ Damn it.  _ Was a thought shared by both parties.

Chione was lead to the back where the trio couldn’t hear the two of them very well.

Sylvia greeted her, "Evening. You can sit wherever." She took the offered seat before Sylvia continued, "I was told to ask you your business here and the full details of what happened. Same for who you were with. If you have any other questions I can help."

"My business here...well, I wander from place to place, really. On occasion I stop to offer my help. As for what happened...I trailed the man last night for a while. He saw me, so I was forced to fall back. Some time after I did so, he was attacked by some creature. When I returned, he was dead, and a person was there. I spoke with him a while, and then two others arrived. An employee of the deceased, and a strange person with the ability to see how he died. The employee mentioned a 'Satanael' that knew the murder had occurred. Whether he was the killer, or just connected, I cannot say. We spoke a while, and I left."

"I...see." Was all the business woman could say, "Any other clues that could lead to the culprit?"

"We found a pair of glasses. The victim doesn't wear glasses himself, I'm told."

"Hm....interesting. Then I think we're done here. Your assistance has been very helpful."

"Additionally, the creature was described as being some sort of being of flesh and scales. I didn't see it myself, but..."

While they were speaking to one another, the trio was debating if they should storm the back and confront Sylvia or if they should wait to ambush her as she came out. None of them were really sure on how to proceed.

"If you're interested in talking to the other three that were there, they're here, by the way. I doubt it's coincidence." Chione was nothing if not loyal to the Garou nation, even if she was not fond of the other tribes.

"The others are here?" She paused in concern.

"Mm. Two of them are. I don't recognize the third, the one last night had his face hidden, but considering they all seemed interested in investigating the murder...it's probably the same person."

Sylvia nodded, "You can tell them the issue will be solved. I learned the police found them, but I will make sure it's over and done with."

"I'll go do that now then. Since I've told you all I know...and be careful. Something seems a bit odd in the back."

"Good. It means we are well protected." She stood up and left out the back. The entire meal was covered already, so she didn’t waste time stopping to pay.

Chione stood and walked back out to the front, stopping at the table of the trio to confront them.

"...You again?" Anthony muttered angrily.

Chione ignored his words and delivered the message, "The issue is going to be dealt with. Since I believe that's why you're here. Of course you could just be here to pay outrageous prices for seafood, in which case I apologize."

Amy cut in, "Nah, filet mignon."

"Still overpriced... though, solved?"

This time, Chione would address him, "The police have found out...which I suppose was inevitable, but things will be wrapped up."

"Well that sounds pretty good to me." Amy.

"The fuck is police gonna do against the... thing that killed him?" Anthony scoffed, "Fuck, they couldn't keep me contained."

Chione scoffed in return, "Who said the Police were the ones dealing with it? I just said they know. Now, enjoy your bankruptcy."

"Sounds vague as fuck. Where the fuck is Sylvia?"

"I should tell you because...?"

"Where is she?" Xaphan tried to reach down and use his own ethereal majesty to compel Chione to listen to him

He failed, as she seemed unperturbed by his actions, "I suggest you learn how to talk to a lady. May I suggest asking your mother?"

"Mom is the biggest bitch to ever grace creation." Anthony said and Jean laughed, "Tsk... It just seems suspicious to me."

"I don't exactly think you're one to be calling other people suspicious, but I guess I am being a bit shady, aren't I? I'd apologize but...I'm not sorry."

And with that Or’alaan started to tune out of their conversation. He was more concerned with finding Sylvia that leting Chione distract him. He focused on her and reached out for her fate. He wasn’t getting much, but he could read her near future.

"...why are you being so mean to each other? What did either of you do to the other?" Amy failed to understand the politics of the supernatural, and how most of it was about screwing over everyone else.

"I just came over to tell you what I was told. Then your friend began making demands."

"I mean... I don't see the need to take personal offense from that, though. Seems kinda unnecessary to get so worked up over it."

"...Alright. I'm a bit interested. I'll tell you something if you tell me how you were able to figure out something was off about my umbrella."

"Oh, that's easy. You see, I have this program on my computer that analyzes the surrounding matter for trace amounts of magical interference. Oh, I should say first, magic leaves behind an imprint of sorts, a changelog for the data it alters just by existing or being used."

"...I'll pretend I understood that. When I described the creature to someone, I swear I heard them mention 'Nosferatu'. So that's likely what the creature is."

"...um, like the Bela Lugosi movie?"

"Like real goddamn vampires." Anthony cut in, not even trying to hide that he knew about their existence, "The Nosferatu are a vampire 'family'. Look like walking hemorrhoids, can't show their faces to humans because it breaks their laws or some shit."

"Uh-- actually, I guess if demons are real, vampires aren't that far." Amy had to admit, it kind of made sense. She was expecting ghosts to be next.

"Fucking spawn of Caine..." was all Anthony could get out, bringing bad blood up to the surface.

Chione walked away from the trio to a spot where she could sit down and finally enjoy a bite to eat. She watcher the three like a hawk though.

Jean could only lean over to Anthony and whisper to him, “I know where Sylvia went.”

And Anthony gave him a thumbs up.


	7. Tracking through Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way too long to type up because of how busy I was. Never go back to school. You will have no life.

"Allow me a moment. I shall be right back." Jean Aladdin Gagneux excused himself from the table and headed for the guy’s restroom. Inside he found one man already doing his business. Jean waited patiently for him to leave, pretending to also need the facilities.

When the man left, he called out to Xaphan. Maybe Chione would overhear Anthony talking to himself, but she would only hear half the conversation this way.

“What is it?” Anthony asked, answering the call.

"I have an idea of where Sylvia will be for the next two days. Nothing too notable, but I can follow her actions to find where she will be." Thankfully, this conversation was brief enough that he didn’t need to worry about someone else barging into the bathroom to overhear him talking to himself, "You want to bail?"

"Yeah, I guess we are done here. I just have to pay this expensive restaurant food." He said sternly.

Amy almost choked on her water next to him and had to get herself together again, "...s-sorry."

"It's cool. Just don't do it again."

"I'll bring pocket money next time."

"Are you trying to guilt the human?" Jean couldn’t hear her, but he could guess what Anthony was responding to, "I can pay for myself if you need."

"Nah I can pay for it. It will just hurt my wallet a bit." Unfortunately, Xaphan had not found himself in the body of a millionaire. 

They cut their connection and Jean washed his hands to look authentic as he came out of the restroom. Meanwhile, Anthony when to pay for the meals.

The total was about $60, most of which was Amy’s meal.

"I'm not talking to you." Anthony grumbled to Amy as he got out his wallet.

Amy was even worse off than the two demons, but she was also much more prone to guilt. She knew most of the bill was hers and she felt bad, "...jeez, makin' me all... put your wallet away, I got it, I got it." She pulled out three twenty dollar bills and placed them down.

Jean was walking past right as they she paid and left without them. When the two of them also came outside, he looked at Amy, "Why do you casually carry that much on you?"

"We were coming out to a fancy restaurant! C’mon you didn't REALLY think I was gonna let you pay that much, did you?" It was totally a lie. If Anthony hadn’t guilted her, she would have let him pay.

Neither of the demons cared enough to call her out on it, or enough to pretend to care.

Instead, Jean wanted to get on with their poorly planned mission, "You ready to follow a vague lead by a mystic?"

Amy’s eyes lit up, "Ooooh, mysticism... that's like another kind of magic, right?"

"It is not like parlor trick magic. It is real and taps into energy that connects each of us together and connects us to the world." Jean’s personality completely overtook Or’alaan’s and ranted at the mage. The demon hated how foolish the human he was stuck in was.

"Real magic isn't a parlor trick either, you know?" She told him, "Sounds like you're accessing the records formed from entropy. There are actual forces at work that connect events, places, people together on a fundamental level. I've been trying to develop a program that lets me read those myself, but I haven't had much success. Maybe you could help me out with that!"

"I can set things on fire. That's my magic." Xaphan chimed in to brag. Devils really did like being in the limelight.

"Psh, easy peasy, just basic forces."

Or’alaan came out again and smirked at how little Amy cared about setting things on fire. He figured more humans would take the immediate gratification and power of his metaphysical abilities anyda, but it seemed that was not the case. He was grateful to have learned something new about humans.

It also made him consider Amy’s proposal, "That depends. Ever seen a star first-hand?"

"Not firsthand but I have developed a few models of stars, just to get a feel for how particles were formed inside them. Kiiiiiiinda ran outta computing power before I got an even remotely accurate simulation, though.I was hoping getting a proper, accurate process for how nuclear fusion works would let me replicate it on a smaller scale, so that I could change the properties of atoms and even change elements to different ones."

"Not an idea what you just said..." Jean was an idiot.

"Alchemy. Sorta."

Or’alaan scoffed, "Listen, no matter what you  _ think _ you can replicate, it is not the same as the real thing."

"Hmm, agree to disagree."

"Ignore that for know. I'll explain how limited your human understanding of the universe and its systems are later. We need to find Sylvia." Or’alaan never messed around when it came to his hard work.

"Man you're sure fun at parties, huh. Wouldn't expect a  _ mystic _ to care so much about this kinda raw, pure science."

"He is a demon of patterns." Anthony, or maybe it was Xaphan, finally joined the conversation again.

"Dots or stripes?"

"Not that kind of patterns." He dead-panned at her.

"I'm teasing."

Jean spoke up, slightly irritated, "Listen, I have two days in me. Can we look for her already?" He knew where she was going and could lead the way, but only for so long.

"Alright man. Just take the lead." Anthony said, motioning for Jean to get on his motorcycle. 

He hopped onto the back and waited for Anthony to join him. The two of them would need to go a bit slower so that Amy could keep up on her own scooter. Fortunately, Jean could calculate for their movement speed.

Once all three of them were ready they took off. Jean gave directions to the place where Sylvia should be until he recognized her car right outside a building.

Anthony came to a halt, "So, what now?"

"Well, we could wait for her to come out or we could try to go in?" Jean suggested.

"...You don't know?"

"I mean, she walks in through the front door with her big, bouncer bodyguard."

"You are the brains guy, aren't you? What do you think?"

Jean gave Anthony the coldest, most dead-eyed stare he could. Or’alaan was the smart one. Jean was an idiot. Unfortunately, Jean’s brain was the one currently in use.

Amy noticed the stare and spoke up instead, "Well, she's probably still inside, right?"

"She shouldn't have left yet." He clarified. 

"Maybe if I can access the cameras, I can find out where exactly she is..."

There was a tiny parking lot ‘round back that they all moved to so Amy would have space to do her thing.

She pulled out her laptop and began trying to hack into the nearby camera so she could freeze the image for the security team. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead her laptop turned off, shorting out due to just how much raw magic was flowing into it.

Jean knew that Sylvia was going to finish her meeting soon and she would be leaving out the back door. Amy would need time to fix up her laptop, as she was practically powerless without it. She had to seperate from them so she could get enough space and power to turn it on again and run a diagnostic on it.

The two demons were now stuck there all by themselves, completely unsure what they were going to do next. Neither of them really had a plan. Jean was just going to look as lost as possible and Anthony did not want to be around when shit hit the fan, so he left.

As Anthony left, Jean started hearing voices approach from the other side of the door. Jean Aladdin Gagneux looked toward the door and sweated a little, unsure what the hell he was going to do.

Next thing he knew, Sylvia walked out of the door with her bodyguard in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two more chapters that have to be typed up. This game is going on hiatus due to some players getting burn out from playing in the same universe for nearly 3-4 years. We're going to be moving on to a different game to refresh us. I may write down that one as well. It is currently in the prologue phase.


	8. Plan B

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amy: Keeps rolling 1s  
> Jean: Charming, but not a flirt  
> Anthony: Badass
> 
> In which none of us have a clue what to do, so we resort to our group's oldest and most tested strategy. Hit the thing until you get what you want.

Sylvia looked at Jean with a hint of suspicion, "What are you doing here?"

He tried to look as nervous and anxious as possible. It wasn’t hard since he actually was feeling that way, "Ummm... I'm kind of lost..." That was a lie, since he where was exactly where he wanted to be.

"Lost?" She paused for a moment, considering his words, "Need some directions?”

"That would be great, honestly. Also, an idea of where I even am. If you don't mind..."

"You're outside the west of the French Quarter....where you do need to go?"

"Oh? Really? I'm trying to get to this one restaurant to meet with some pals of mine. It's called... Luke, or something." He just named a random restaurant he had heard of before.

She gave him directions like it was nothing, never questioning why he wasso far away from the location.

"Thank you. Ummm... Can I ask what your name is... and if I could get your number?" He tried to flirt with her, but Jean was not the flirtatious type. He was charming as a necessity for his job, but he never really hit on people.

Sylvia laughed nervously, "Ahaha...sorry, not that kind of lady. But have a good night." She walked away without another word.

"Awww... Too bad. I thought you were pretty." He said, hoping his words would stop her and make her reconsider. They did not.

He sighed and muttered under his breath, "Xaphan, they are heading to the front. My flirting was ineffective."

"Alright." He answered back. He turned to Amy who was still busy fixing up her laptop, "They are heading to the front."

"She is very determined not to deviate from her predicted path, it seems."

"I got a plan." Anthony said.

"What is the plan?" Jean asked.

“Amy, I need your scooter.” He looked at her as she continued to repair her laptop. She looked up at him in confusion, but nodded.

He grabbed her scooter and rolled off toward the front of the building where Sylvia had already gotten into the car and was beginning to pull out. Anthony clenched his teeth and braced himself for what he was about to do. Without another word, he rolled himself out in front of the car just as it was beginning to pull out. It smacked into him with a thud, causing him to fall off and onto the ground.

The car jerked as it ran into Anthony, causing Sylvia to scream at her driver, "What was that?!" They stopped immediately.

Anthony just layed down on the ground, unsure what to do now that he managed to stop them.

"Hey! Are you awake?" Sylvia called out as she got out of the car to see what had happened.

"I-I'm fine. I got distracted for a bit." The was a lie. His right arm was completely messed up in the landing and he knew it. For a human, it would require a cast. For a demon like him, however, it would just take some time and Faith to fix.

"Can you move?"

"Ugh... I guess." Once again, it was just his arm. His legs were fine. He looked at the messed up arm and sighed. He really didn’t want to deal with this right now.

Jean came around the corner at the sound of something crash and saw Anthony lying on the ground. He couldn’t help but mutter to him, “You are mad.”

"I'm going to call for help. Stay there." She pulled out a flip phone and began to dial 911. She really must have been well off to have her own mobile phone.

"I have crashed before, I'm cool lady." He forced the broken arm to move so she wouldn’t call anyone.It was painful, but he managed it, "Is your car alright?"

She gave him a skeptical look before stopping her call, "It isn't going anywhere. But are you sure you're okay?"

"Psh, yeah. I have been worse. It will be a shame telling my niece I crashed her scooter..."

She said nothing to him as she began to enter a different number into her phone. She spoke into when it finally connected, "Sorry, we will have to meet later on. Got held up in an accident. Perfectly fine." Her course in fate had been changed, "Alright. I will call you later."

Jean sighed as her looked at Anthony. His companion looked lost and unsure what to do next. He felt the need to step in and distract the woman for a moment so Anthony could get his bearings.

"Ummm... Sorry. Is everything okay over here? I heard something...." He feigned surprise at seeing Anthony on the ground.

She started speaking to Anthony, "Let's get you u-what are you still doing here?" then switched when Jean came on the scene. Her face went from mild worry to confusion.

It had only been a minute or so since they separated, so it was plausible for him to still be here. He decided to continue to pretend to flirt through, "I was getting over the loss of not getting your number, but that makes me sound like a loser, so I'd rather not admit that."

She frowned at him, "There's someone who hit the ground here. No time for that."

"He okay? Need any help?"

She looked at Anthony, "You can stand?"

"Yeah, I only got a bit scratched."

Jean shrugged, "Well, good to see everyone was okay, at least. I should be meeting up with pals now. Thanks again, Miss." He needed to get out of there and quick.

"Okay good. I am probably not calling the police on this one if you won't. I don't think any of us need the insurance claims." She reached out to help him up.

He accepted her assistance"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you more than I already did."

"Alright. Well, if you're okay, then you're good to go. I don't think the scooter got lodged in the car or anything." She let go of him gently once he was up.

"Right." He finally used his stored Faith to repair his broken arm and retrieve the scooter. The thing was ruined. He’d have to apologize to Amy later. Now he just had to find a way to stay in contact with her, "Hey. I see you guys are kinda busy right now but I wanna make up for it later, I'm a mechanic myself. Could i have your number?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, "Oh really? That might help us. Though I think we're just going to get a ride and look into fixing it tomorrow."

"Alright, lady. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, we can speak then."

After Sylvia was gone, Anthony went to meet up with the others. They all agreed that he had the best chance of getting information out of her tomorrow. The three of them split up, ready to do their own thing tomorrow and come back together later.

 

**French Quarter**

**10:00 pm**

"Always getting into shit these Walkers." Sandra "Stick-Biter" Foster said while hanged up her phone.

"The city truly is the perfect place for getting into trouble, isn't it?" Chione huffed, arms folded in front of her.

"We can agree on that."

"She  _ was _ going to show up, talk to us, then let us go for the night."

"She's delayed, but hopefully not for long. I hope it was just a normal accident."

About half and hour later, Sandra’s phone rung again. Sylvia was on the other end when she answered, "Evening. It was late so I have decided to try meeting with you tomorrow. I was told to just return home tonight for safety."

Sandra rolled her eyes. Glass Walkers were the worst, "What is going on tomorrow?"

"I am going to meet with a mechanic that is going to fix the vehicle if we can. We can also meet up tomorrow as well."

"Alright." And with that, she hung up. No need for formalities.

"Well, I guess we get to meet up tomorrow then. Great.."

"That much of a delay? I see." Chione said, but she was really hoping it wasn’t that stupid meddling trio (it was).

"Kinfolk man. I love em but sometimes they make me wanna jump into the nearest pit."

"Kinfolk can be difficult sometimes, certainly. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong. There's been enough of a delay."

The woman let out a small “tsk” before continuing, "Whatever. You're good then. I'm going home."

"Safe travels. I'll be taking my leave now." Chione said, annoyed that she wasted her time. Things would have to come together tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One left. I plan to have it up before the end of the week, as the chat log will be cleared after that. *shrugs* We're in crunch time people!


	9. On Their Own

**Just Another Fortune Shop**

**4:45pm (Day 2)**

Jean was getting decent business today. It wasn’t great, but it was enough to make up for the cost of operation. At least, he thought it was. He wasn’t actually good with money, so he could only guess. No one had bothered to tip him though. Not that he needed it. He charged enough to get by without people’s charity.

He heard the bell over his front door ring. When he looked up, there was a pretty redhead standing before him, "Hello, Ma'am."

"Nice place here. You tell fortunes?" She sounded skeptical.

"I see the future, yes." Jean’s claim, but Or’alaan’s truth.

"Hmm. I don’t want anything special, can you just tell me where I will be tonight?"

Jean balked at that one, “Are you really unaware or are you just testing me?" He chuckled anyway, "I need a name."

".....Sandra." She answered curtly and suspiciously, "Do I sound like I'm testing you?" She took a seat at the table where Jean was sitting.

Something about the woman made him uncomfortable and nervous. Not Jean, but Or’alaan. The demon was telling him to run away, but he didn’t know why. Somehow, he found it in him to stay put.

"Some people ask questions they already know the answer to so they can test how accurate I am." He answered, holding back his growing unease.

"That isn't what I'm doing."

He doubted that, but he accepted it for now, "Just Sandra, no last name?"

She shook her head.

"A little harder, but sure."

He reached out to find her thread of fate, but could only touch it with the tips of his fingers. Her future was staying just out of his reach, only allowing him to see a vague image of her walking down a street in the French Quarter.

"Hmmm.... I'm not getting much. Just an Alleyway and a bunch of people around you… Somewhere in the French Quarter."

"That's it? Any idea what it means?"

"I don't get to control what I see... Oh, I know. Let me try my cards. Maybe I will get more."

Sandra gave a disgruntled sigh while Jean stood to get his cards. He wasn’t sure why, but her negative energy and frustration was making his hair stand on end.

He came back with his card and tried again to grab ahold of her fate. This time he focused on that alleyway. It wasn’t that far from where they were now. It was a small abandoned park and she walked through a group of people. She shouted at them and they dispersed.

There was nothing important in there, so he shared it with her.

She responded with silence before showing her disbelief, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Jean and Or’alaan both ignored their wounded pride, "Well, I did say that having only a first name would make it harder. There are plenty of Sandra's in the world to parse you out from in the threads of fate."

She stopped to think, "Fine. Foster."

"Sandra Foster.... Let's see if fate is more kind now." One last time, he tapped into fate and tried to find the answers she was looking for. It was tonight. She was heading for a small room just outside of downtown. Perhaps a motel?

"As for where you will be tonight, I see a small room outside of downtown. Perhaps a motel?"

Sandra looked towards Jean with interest.

"Now, we have two options here, Sandra. I can pull one other thread from fate. So, you may ask one last question about this event, or perhaps another. Maybe you would leave the choice to me?"

"Hm. Am I gonna be betrayed?"

“At this event, you mean? Whatever it is."

"Yeah."

What a frustrating question. He would try to answer it for her though. He saw nothing that would be considered a betrayal. No one at the meeting was in immediate danger.

"Betrayal is a little harder to determine. Perhaps they are in their minds, or they plan to at a later date. However, I see no one in danger. If betrayal is in their minds, it will not be acted upon that night."

"Aight." She stood up, "Thanks." and walked out the door.

"No problem, my dear. May fate allow our paths to cross again. I do enjoy seeing people more than once in my life."

As soon as the door shut, Jean realized she didn’t pay him. Part of him was annoyed, since he still needed to eat. The part that was Or’alaan was glad she was gone though.

 

**Garage**

**5:00pm**

Anthony needed to fix Amy’s scooter. He felt bad for completely destroying it. So far he had only managed to get the pole in place. The alignment was still off and a handle was missing.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he heard a car start pulling up to his garage. He turned around to see Sylvia’s car coming his way.

It was show time.

"Hello." Sylvia said as she stepped out of the car, "Thanks again for this. It actually helps a lot."

"Least I could do after we crashed. Let’s take it inside so I can take a look."

He went toward the biggest source of the damage and Sylvia followed. It actually wasn’t damaged that badly, given how small the scooter was. It would probably be up and running like nothing had happened in no time.

"Hmm... I can make it work, yeah." He told her.

"Good, how long do you think it will take?"

"Probably the whole day. Maybe a bit more."

She pursed her lips, "Alright. I won't have a ride till later so I will probably wait here for a bit if that's alright."

"That's fine. It's only me around anyways." Anthony wasn’t the biggest people person by nature. It was somehow worse after Xaphan took over.

Regardless, he would start to work on the car, only speaking up after a few minutes, "So, what you do for a living, lady?"

"Oh, you can call me Sylvia.” Bingo. She let down her guard enough to give out her name, “I'm just a secretary for a law firm."

"Law firm? No offense, but I never liked lawyers. I get the sneaky bastard vibe from them... Uh you seem alright though."

She chuckled, "It's okay. We get that alot."

He decided to just go for it, "Did you ever meet Heath Pace? He was a private investigator."

"Oh, huh. Yeah actually. His name gets around huh?" He couldn’t read the emotion on her face.

"Yeah. Too bad he bit the dust."

"Yeah, I saw on the news. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, it might just be a coincidence but my niece worked for him. She was going through some of his files... and she saw some files with the picture of a pretty lady. She showed and now looking at you... You two look really alike."

“Sure, sure.” She smiled, "Are you looking for another parent for your niece?"

Did she think he was flirting with her or was she just trying to avoid the topic?

"I wouldn't mind a nice date." Anthony shrugged, playing along, "Though I was mostly wondering if you knew anything. Maybe if he was poking around something he shouldn't... You know, I'm worried about my niece."

She stopped, her face obviously in thought, "I did get to speak with him, I was more or less his lawyer. But I don't think what he and I said is useful to you."

"You never know." All the while he continued to fix the minor damage to the car.

"Hm. Well, he and I spoke a lot of finances. I looked after his money essentially." She wasn’t overly specific, "We had to meet if he ever needed to consult me."

"Ah. Yeah, not something for me then."

"He did have money troubles though." She then seemed to think better of what she said, "But I don't know if I should go into more detail."

"Sounds rough."

She nodded.

"Hm... The hood is good but the insides are going to take some work." Anthony said, pulling himself away from his handiwork.

"Alright. "If it's okay, could I leave the car here?"

"No problem, lady."

"Alright. Anything else I need to know? I'll come back tomorrow if not."

"Hmm... Is the date idea still on the table?" May as well try to make her more amicable in the future.

"I might be busy in the next bit of time sorry. Thanks for the offer." She politely declined and left the garage.

  


**Motel**

**8:00pm**

"Sylvia is taking way too long to set this straight." Sandra "Stick-Biter" Foster growled, "Do you ever deal with Glass Walkers?"

"Not often.” Chione said, “I heard, once, about a Glass Walker that did something awfully indecent in a pool."

"Here's a free tip: They will go through everything to make things as drawn out as fucking possible." Sandra sighed, "I guess she's trying to clean up the mess her little cronies made?"

"They sound like they enjoy wasting time. At this point she should just move on."

"Problem is she can't. If her higher ups find out it won't look good for her. Heath wasn't actually supposed to die you know." As if she had a say in fate and she was surprised how wrong it went.

"I know he wasn't. If she's that worried now, she should have taken more precautions when he was alive." Chione ignored the fact that she was there just before he had died.

"I think they did. But none of us knew who she was commanding. I guess they think one of the guys went rogue and killed him anyway."

"So what do we do while we wait for her to make herself look completely clean?"

"I wanna just confront her and just tell her she fucked up." And just how badly she fucked up, "But we need to get the guy who actually killed Heath. Or we need to at least make sure whoever _is_ going to do it actually makes sure they're dead. I don't care if they die though."

"Unless we've found other clues, all we have to go on is a 'screen name', and the fact they're a Nosferatu, no? I wouldn't even be able to identify the correct one..." She knew barely anything, and only what she overheard from that weird psychic that was at the crime scene. That trio was such a pain.

"Nosferatu? Who told you that?" She checked the time, "I mean yeah they're definitely a damn Leech."

"You did. You were mumbling it when you made a call." _Bitch I have ears. Damn good ones._

"Hm." Sandra hummed suspiciously, "Well, fine then. We could learn from the others that didn't do the actual killing. We know the entire gang was there."

"Interesting. Should we go pay a visit, then?"

"We'd have to find them without tipping off Sylvia." Kinfolk or not, she could make life a pain if they weren’t careful, "I definitely don't want the Walkers down my throat, but I am able to call them."

"I suppose they would make everything more complicated. What do you suggest, then?"

"Oh hell I like your idea." Sandra stressed, trying not to discourage Chione, "Just gotta make sure that we don't tip them off that Sylvia doesn't know about this."

"Understood."

With that, Sandra grabbed her phone and started making a phone call, "Alright, gather your boys, meet me at the usual spot, and you'll find out why when you're here. Don't talk to anyone about this." She said to whoever was on the other end before hanging up again.

She turned and smirked at Chione, "Easy."

"Sounds like it. Very effective."

 

**A Little Later**

Sandra and Chione had to move out of the motel, but they were able to get to the meeting spot. About fifteen minutes later, four guys showed up.

"Alright. What's the deal." One of the four, and odd-looking punk with short brown hair asked as they approached the two Garou women.

Sandra looked to Chione.

She sighed, "Do you know anybody who uses the name Satanael?"

"Who?" The punk nearly spat out, "I got nothing lady." She wondered if he was lying to her, but she couldn’t tell one way or the other, "Anything else?"

"Yes, actually. I need to know about a Nosferatu, who might have been...let's say, elsewhere, a few nights ago."

The guy’s face went red, "Motherfucker. That fucking guy? Yeah that ugly fuck that joined in when the PI got whacked? Who the fuck called him in?"

Sandra interrupted, "Hell if I know. We just want to know where he's been hiding."

"We haven't been able to contact him, but I did hear that the St. Louis Cemetery has rumors of monsters at night. That sounds like him."

Chione looked on without any reaction on her face, "...The Cemetery sounds like it's worth investigating, then."

"Good, fuck that guy. He fucked the job and we got the beating for it."

"Got anything else to ask Chione?" Sandra asked her companion.

"No, I think that'll be enough."

She turned back to the group, "You're good then."

"Aight." The four of them left, annoyed that they were called out for so little but glad the asshole would get what was coming.

"Are you going there on your own? Or do you need some help?" Sandra asked.

"If you're offering, I'll accept. There's no telling what we may find."

"Hrng. I want to go. But if they find o-fuck it I'm going. Can't have you show me up." She refused to be shown up by the new kid, "We'll go tomorrow, get any backup you need and we'll head there."

"...Hm. Yes, I think I might know some people to bring along." _Might as well make the meddling kids useful._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Officially on hiatus! Will come back when the campaign starts up again.


End file.
